


Fallen

by thewolfsdoctor



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Stardust AU, i tried to get a good mix of characters in there, lets hope i can finish this, magic and stars and stuff, more based off the movie bc idk the book could be a little different
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-04-17 18:45:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14195349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewolfsdoctor/pseuds/thewolfsdoctor
Summary: This is the story of how John Smith became a man. And to achieve it, he must win the heart of his one true love.





	1. The Beginning

The shop was as busy as ever, customers lining up all the way to the front door. John rushed to find everything each person asked for, charging them appropriately and moving on to the next person in line. The people were getting a bit grumpy, but Reinette walked to the very front like she didn’t see the other people there, a sweet smile plastered on her face.

The other people in the shop groaned, knowing that their service would be stalled for the time being. John didn’t notice, because he was busy ogling the woman and collecting her things.

“It’s a bit heavy,” Reinette complained, “would you be so kind to help me carry them?”

John’s arms were piled high with groceries, stumbling over his own feet to get around the counter and walk the woman home. He only yelled, “I’ll be back soon!” as an afterthought to the manager.

Needless to say, he went home without a job.

“You would do anything for her,” John’s father, Ulysses, said, “it’s almost ridiculous.”

“It’s love,” John shrugged. His father only hummed. His son had been pursuing Reinette for quite some time, and Ulysses had some experience with falling hard and fast.

“She seems one for grand romantic gestures.”

John immediately perked up. “You’re right! Oh, I know what to do now! Champagne and candles, I’ll need all my savings!”

“Now, John-”

In a whirlwind, John was out the door with his money and plans to win Reinette over. Ulysses figured there was no stopping him, so he shook his head and continued with his novel.

John was ecstatic through his whole endeavor, leading Reinette to the open field littered with candles and a picnic blanket. The stars were shining brighter than usual for the night, or he liked to believe they were.

They seemed to dim when Reinette mentioned that Louis was planning to propose to her on her birthday. He was going to Ipswich to look for a ring. Ha! Like John wouldn’t travel to Antarctica to prove his love for her, that would show Louis and bloody Ipswich.

A shooting star streaked across the sky just then, Reinette’s expression filled with wonder. She was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that John dared to do the impossible.

“I’ll get you that star, Reinette. I’d do anything for your hand in marriage, much more than travel to Ipswich.”

She smiled. Reinette did love a challenge, especially one to win her over. “You have one week, John Smith.”

They clinked their champagne glasses together, sealing a deal that would take John on the adventure of a lifetime.  
\--  
Wilf was at his usual post when John walked up to the Wall. Many people thought the old man mad, but he was rather harmless despite his sworn oath to protect the Wall by any means necessary. Over 70 years he’s been here, so he was quite the legend in their small village of Arcadia.

“Ah, Ulysses Smith!” Wilf called out, standing up with the help of his staff.

He approached him kindly, offering his hand to help him stand but Wilf refused it. “It’s actually John, his son.”

“Ah, well you two do look alike.” John smiled sheepishly. Wild pointed the end of his staff at the young man’s chest. “But no one else is getting over the Wall!”

“Someone else did?” John asked curiously.

Wilf paused, like he was caught with a secret. He began to lead John back to the town instead of answering him. “Never mind that, go on home, lad.”

“Well, I just wanted to-” John burst into a sprint, running past Wilf and almost reaching the Wall when something tripped him in his path. As he got up he noticed the guard standing next to him, his staff where he had tripped. He moved fast for a 90-year-old man. When he tried again he was knocked to the ground, gasping for breath. Wilf poked him in the chest with his staff again.

“Goodnight, John.”

“Yeah, night,” he replied, a little defeated and more than a little embarrassed.

He iced his bruised head and ego when he returned home, his father coming down to see what the fuss was about. He told him about Wilf, and that he mentioned his father’s name.

“Did you go across the Wall?”

His silence was all the answer he needed. “I met your mother over the Wall.”

John was speechless. His mother. A woman he had never met, who had left him in the care of his father, was from the mythical city over the Wall.

His father placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding towards the staircase. “I have something to show you.”

In the attic, Ulysses dug around until he found a basket. The one that John was given to him in. In it was a worn, knitted blanket, a glass flower, a piece of chain, and a wrapped package.

“She was cursed by a witch to be her servant until death,” he told John. He held up the flower and chain. “I bought the flower for a kiss. She said it would bring me luck.”

Ulysses smiled at the memory, scratching at his beard. “I tried to cut her free, but the chain was enchanted to never break.”

John inspected each item, eyes widened by his father’s story. Each item seemed so precious, a distant remnant of the past finally catching up to him. His father finally held out the small, paper-wrapped package to him.

“It’s addressed to you.”

He took it gently in his hands, running his thumb over the writing on the outside. _For Jonathan._

John unrolled the paper, revealing a black candle, and a letter from his mother. After reading of her regret for having to send him away, his heart filled with a heavy determination to find her again. He tucked the flower and chain in his coat pocket and asked his father for a light. As soon as it was lit, it felt like he was flying through the air. 

_Light this candle and think of me…_

He did. And he ended up in a ditch, crash landing into a woman. She was in some type of silk night gown, like she walked in her sleep. She was beautiful, considering. Pale blonde hair and golden-brown eyes, wide lips that made him wonder what her smile would look like.

“Would you please get off of me?” the woman said, scowling at him. He realized he was stretched on top of her, staring at her like a loon.

“Right, sorry.” He scrambled to get up, slipping on the smooth ground a couple of times. She sat up as well but didn’t move to stand.

“How’d you get here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I asked you first.”

He held up the black candle, which was now half the size it was before. Her face brightened. “Is that a Babylon Candle?”

“…Yes, a babbling candle.”

“Babylon.”

He sniffed. “That’s what I said.”

“Right, and it brought you here because…”

“I thought of my mother.” He tried to remember everything the letter had said, if there was something he missed. But it just said to think of her, and they would find each other. He looked up to the blonde woman, the exact opposite of who his father described. It didn’t hurt to ask, maybe his mind got all fuzzy after all those years. “Are, are you…”

Maybe it did hurt, because she seemed affronted by the question. “God, no! Do I look like someone’s mother?”

“I dunno!” he threw his hands in the air, “I messed it up somehow. I was thinking of my mother and then there was Reinette and the star.” He stopped. “The star!”

“Yes?”

“Have you seen it? It has to be here, we’re in the crater.” John fell to his knees and began to dig frantically, spinning around to see something shine or anything remotely star-shaped. Rose crossed her arms and sat still, watching him move around the ground like a bloodhound. Frustration boiled in her veins, after being violently ripped from the sky and down to earth with this silly man. 

“Well, it must’ve landed here, seeing as I’m in this big hole in the ground.” Rose flipped her hair out of her face, and it caused the stone around her neck to glint in the moonlight. John looked up at her and noticed.

“Is that it? On your neck?”

“Oh, this thing?” she looked down like she just noticed it was there. “The thing that knocked a poor, innocent star right out of the sky? And then, to top it all off, a flying man knocked her right to the ground!”

John’s eyes widened in disbelief. This was definitely not what he expected. “No, really? It’s you?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, very annoyed with the turn of events. 

He was over her in an instant, and then she felt a cold chain around her wrist. An enchanted chain, that of which would not break under the blade of a knife or if she tugged on it really, really hard. “What have you gone and done that for?”

He held the other end of the chain tightly. “I need you.”

“Well, I’m flattered but I don’t think this is the way into a woman’s heart.”

“No, no, I need you for Reinette. So I can finally prove my love to her!”

“Because nothing says love like kidnapping an injured woman!” she said sarcastically.

He gave her a manic smile. “Oh, she’s gonna love you.”

She mimicked his enthusiasm. “I bet.”

He tugged on the chain excitedly, beginning to lead the way, but stopped at her comment. “Injured?”

She huffed in exasperation. “I just fell from the sky, you knob.”

John stammered a bit, running through the dilemma in his mind.

“We have a week to get back across the Wall, or else she’s gonna marry someone else!”

“That’s not going to help my current situation, is it?” She struggled to stand, even when she planted her hands to the ground for balance.

“We’ll find a way out of here, then stop at the nearest house.” John came over to help her up, seeing that she wobbled on one leg. “But only for a while, I’m not losing her forever.”

Rose gave a little salute but held on tightly to the man’s arm. He did his best to support her weight, securely wrapping an arm around her to keep their balance. “Yes, sir.”

He gave a little smirk. “You’re quite cheeky for a star.”

“Thank you. And I have a name, you know. It’s Rose.”

“You’re named after a flower?”

“More like the flower is named after me,” Rose responded with pride.

“Nice to meet you, Rose. My name is John Smith.” They stepped forward together, making their way over the slope of the crater to continue their adventure.


	2. The Middle

They walked for hours without rest, and Rose begrudgingly watched the sun rise. She saw a quaint little town they could stop at a ways back, but John kept right through it.

It seemed that when he was determined to do something, everything around him disappeared.

John had been walking ahead of Rose, trudging silently through a spot of trees as he let his mind run wild. This kind of stirred things up a bit, didn’t it? Reinette wouldn’t want a human looking woman as a gift. But, Rose was star, he could present her to Reinette and send her back to where she fell from with the candle. By then, Reinette would agree to marry him. Unless the ring that Louis was bringing her was worth more than a star. She could at least keep the ring. Rose was going back home. 

He felt a tug on the chain, breaking him out of his thoughts, and turned to Rose to see her hobbling to the side. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting down. My leg hurts.”

Rose was hungry and tired, as they decidedly  _ not _ stopped at the nearest house. The bloody chain kept her tied to John, which was not something that she had taken a liking to. She had a feeling he loved to talk, and his silence was unnerving.

“We have to keep a move on,” he insisted.

Her face contorted angrily. “My. Leg. Hurts.”

He sighed but sat down next to her. Her hand kept massaging her ankle to try and relieve the pain, but it didn’t seem to be working. 

“Do you mind if I…?” John gestured to her leg. Rose only shrugged in response.

“S’not like you can do any more damage.”

He hoisted her leg onto his lap as gently as he could, and began to poke and prod at it. His hands were quite nice, she noticed. Deft, long fingers that held strong, almost rough against her skin.

“It’s not broken, maybe just a sprain,” he noted. 

His low voice didn’t really help her train of thought, either. It’s not like she didn’t have eyes. He was attractive, adorably handsome with his wild hair and wide grin, but he was also dead set on marrying Reinette, and she admired that. It must have been nice to have someone willing to give you the world. Rose had observed mankind for centuries, and they never stopped surprising her.

“Are you a doctor?” she inquired.

“Nah,” he scoffed, “Shop boy. But my father is the town medic of sorts. You learn a thing or two.”

He couldn’t do much to patch her up, so he put on that sheepish look that seemed to get him out of most situations. “You’re still going to have to walk.”

“Oh, come on!” Rose groaned, “You just said I have a sprain. And it’s midday. I’m usually sleeping by now.”

John fell silent, and his brow furrowed as he thought of a plan. “Alright, I’ll find some food and medicine at the nearest village and I’ll be right back.”

Rose seemed satisfied with that answer, until he started walking around the tree she was leaning against. “Now what are you doing?”

“Making sure you don’t run off.” Above her, John linked two ends of the chain together. Great. She was officially, undoubtedly, stuck.

John was free as a bird, retracing their steps to the tiny town they passed earlier in the morning. He only had the few coins in his pocket, enough to buy a loaf of bread and a water canteen. The walk back would take some time, and it would take longer if he needed to bargain.

He was wary to leave Rose alone in a forest, but he had no other choice. She needed to rest. And he knew she could handle herself, sprained ankle and all.

Blessedly, Rose was able to catch up on her sleep, but John’s been gone long enough for the sun to set. And she was bored.

Something in the distance cracked, shuffled, and thumped on the ground.

“Hello? Who’s there?” No answer came. The sounds became louder. The crack of branches followed by the rustle of trees, and heavy steps came closer. Rose  grabbed a nearby branch and struggled to stand, and it may have hurt but she wasn’t about to let anything eat her for a midnight snack without a fight.

Two big, glowing eyes blinked to life in the dark and a heavy, mangled paw dragged in the dirt. There, twenty feet away from her, was a giant wolf.

“Aren’t you a beautiful boy?” Rose cooed happily. The wolf wagged its tail, and approached calmly. She held out her hand and the creature sniffed at it, and let her stroke it’s head. “Yes, you are.”

The wolf moved around the tree as Rose watched carefully. It must have been sent here to help. Were her sisters watching over her? Her eyes trailed up to the open sky, a freedom she already missed dearly.

All of a sudden, the tree shook violently. Rose yelped in surprise when she saw the wolf leaning on it with its front paws. When it came back down to the ground, it seemed to have cut the chain loose, leaving an angry claw mark straight down the tree’s bark. The chain disappeared from her wrist, and she would have jumped with joy if she didn’t have a bad ankle.

“Thank you, love.” The wolf knelt down, and she haphazardly climbed onto his back. The warmth of his fur was enough to keep the cold of night at bay, and the wolf led her out of the forest.

Meanwhile, John made his way back into the forest, with a loaf of bread and canteen of water in hand, and was decidedly terrified to see the mark on the tree. He grew increasingly worried when Rose was nowhere near the tree.

He fell to his knees in guilt. He led her to her death! A painful death by a horrid creature!

“What am I doing?”

John rolled onto the ground, staring up towards the sky. He was so determined to catch Reinette’s eye, and it cost someone’s life.How could he have been so one-minded? 

And while John Smith was sulking under a tree, Rose found herself heading toward an open field, where she saw a little inn on the roadside.

“Reinette this and Reinette that,” Rose complained, “He always says he needs me as gift. How much have I heard about her? Nothing! A star is not used to being kept away from stories, you know. I can see everything, all the time! Not once has he said anything else about Reinette.”

The wolf huffed. He was surprised she hasn’t run out of breath by now.

“I wonder what she’s like to have turned his head. Probably beautiful, maybe even rich.”

Reinette was, undoubtedly, very, very rich.

And, arguably, very, very beautiful.

Rose could have gone on and on with her imagination, but the wolf stopped and jolted her out of her musings. Heavy rain began to fall, and Rose’s wet dress clung to her skin.

She didn’t even have to knock before the door swung open, revealing an elderly blonde woman beckoning her to come inside.

John could feel sleepiness overtake him like a big, wool blanket being pulled up to his chin. That would be nice, right about now, but all he had was a thin coat. His heart was heavy and body exhausted, deciding that he would return home in the morning.

Then, there were whispers in his mind. He felt like he was dreaming, but he could hear every word.

_ Save our Rose. Danger is upon her. _

_ A carriage is coming this way and you must get on it. Now! _

John shot up and ran without thinking. His feet led him to where he needed to go. He ended up at a dirt path and turned his head to see a black carriage hurtling towards him.

Adrenaline flooded his veins. His heart beat with determination. He had one mantra in his mind. Save Rose.

John jumped and grasped onto the back of the carriage, and gracefully fell to the ground.

He had the air knocked out him, and then there was a sword pointing at his neck.

“Who are you? Do you work for my brother?” the figure above him said. It was a man, a prince destined to be king, named Braxiatel of Arcadia. And he could not be bothered with the likes of this boy while he was on a quest.

“No, I just need a ride, sir.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Braxiatel stated, climbing back onto his carriage.

“Please, I could be of help to you. Just for this ride.”

Braxiatel was known for many things, and his sympathy was one of them. Water started falling from the sky, it would probably be pouring in a few minutes. The boy looked like he just rolled out of the dirt.

“Fine. Get on.”

John scrambled up to the seat of the carriage, thanking the man profusely. He urged him to move fast, the voice in John’s mind fading but becoming  more insistent with every second.

Before he knew it, they were slowing down in front of a large inn in the middle of a field,

“What? Why are we stopping?”

The older man began to unhitch his horses, throwing John the reins. “I’ve been travelling for a while, my boy. A man needs his rest.”

“But we can’t stop now! I’ve got somewhere to be!” The voice in his head had calmed to near silence, the remnants of his dreams dissolving into nothing. He could barely remember what they had said but it was important. Something about Rose. But she was gone, wasn’t she? All of his hopes and sense of morale gone with her.

“And where might that be?” the man bit back. Braxatiel did not have time for games, but he did think a good soak in a tub would do him good. Plans to end his brother needed to be made. The crown would be his in no time.

The young man had nothing to say to him, typical. “I…”

Braxiatel ordered his new companion to bring the horses to the stables, walking up to the door and swinging it open. John stood helplessly outside, doing as he was told for once. It wouldn’t do him good to argue with his only transportation.

Miss Cassandra was a kind woman, a bit overbearing to Rose’s knowledge, but maybe she just really enjoyed inn-keeping? Her husband, the inn-keeper, seemed the quiet sort, so maybe she really ran the house. Her daughter was just strange. Even Cassandra tried to give her a massage before there was a ruckus downstairs, which was strange in its own right. She was nice enough to heal her ankle with a ‘home remedy’, she called it, so Rose didn’t question anything.

There was another guest that needed tending to, though, so Rose was left on her own in the quiet room. A while later, she followed Cassandra downstairs only to see a man in a bath.

“Ah, hello,” he said to her. “Prepare your best room-”

“I don’t work here,” Rose interrupted, a little affronted by the notion.

Cassandra swept into the room just then, holding a tray with a glass of wine. “I am the lady of the house, sir. Can I offer you a drink?”

He considered it for a while before refusing. “I have vowed not to drink anything but my own wine until my brother is dead. But maybe my friend outside would appreciate it.”

The inn-keeper’s wife handed the tray to her daughter and waved her off. “Our best room?”

“If you please.” She gave a sickeningly sweet smile before turning to go up the stairs, leaving Rose with the man in the tub.

“My apologies,” the man said to her, but she waved him off. He continued anyway. “As a prince, I am accustomed to immediate service.”

“A prince?”

“Of Arcadia, the mystical land in Gallifrey.” He gave her a curious look. Her eyes were trained elsewhere, as Rose wasn’t used to holding a conversation with men in tubs. “Where we are now.”

He seemed to be distracted as well. “What’s that on your neck?”

She looked down at the pendant that knocked her out of the sky. “This?”

“Give it to me.”

“I beg your pardon?”

The prince began to climb out of the tub, anger rising. “I am Braxiatel of Arcadia, son of Rassilon, and I command you to give me that stone!”

Rose backed away, clutching the stone around her neck for dear life.

And then, time seemed to blur together. Cassandra appeared from the top of the stairs, wielding a curved blade and a knife that she slung at the prince, ending his life in an instant. The fire from the candles burst into an angry green, engulfing the inn in an eerie glow.

“This would have worked better if you were happy,” Cassandra began, “But the strength of your fear will work, too.”

It all clicked in Rose’s mind. An elaborate scheme to lure her into a false contentment. For the power of her heart. Cassandra was a witch. Her sisters have fallen into the same fate, and now she was in the same danger.

Outside, John headed to the stable, the horses almost agitated at the prospect. One of them even manage to knock him down. With a hell of a fight from one of the steeds, he managed to lead them to the entrance. He opened the door without a care, then promptly slammed it shut and turned to one of the horses.

“There’s a wolf in there.” The horse neighed in response. “A… a big, gray wolf.”

His hands tightened around the reins as he pushed past the large animals and ran directly into a young woman. The tray she held fell to the ground and practically burned a hole through the patch of dry grass at his feet. Was she… trying to kill him?

Wood splintered behind him, a warm puff of air at the nape of his neck. He was too afraid to turn around. And, honestly, surprised his head wasn’t torn off by the giant beast behind him. In fact, it headed straight toward the inn, knocking down the woman in its way. The horses became restless, and John let go of their restraints before they could drag him off towards the woods.

_ A protector. _

There was that voice again. And John knew exactly what the wolf was.

The wolf turned to him at that instance, waving its head at the door, trying to tell him something.

_ Save Rose. _

She had to be alive!

There was no time to think. The wolf ran straight into the door, wood splintering around it, as he let out a mighty howl. John ran behind it into the building, finding Rose cornered at the opposite side. He ran straight to her, but was almost sliced in half by a blade thrown across the room. When he turned to see where it came from, he spotted an elderly woman chanting some sort of spell before the entire inn burst into flames. He heard the wolf howl again, but it still stood facing the threat it found. They both had someone to protect.

Rose met him halfway, the flames behind her pushing her closer. The woman seemed to drift toward them, trapping them effectively.

Except John still had the Babylon candle. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled it out, reaching for Rose’s waist and extending the candle into the green flame next to him.

“Think of home.”

The world rushed around them, Rose holding onto him tightly like she could fall away, the feeling becoming familiar after traveling like this for a while. Only they hadn’t landed at his house, where he thought of. His house was miles below, under the stormy clouds he and Rose were standing in right now.

“What happened?” John cried over the sound of thunder. “Why are we in the clouds?”

Rose threw her hands up, letting go of him and pushing away. “You said think of home!”

“I meant on Earth!”

“Well, that doesn’t really work if my home is in space!” Rose pointed out. “You must have thought of your home and I thought of mine, and the candle met them in the middle!”

This entire situation was so ridiculous, and they were soaking wet in the rain on the clouds, John all but burst into laughter. Of course this would happen to them when they were in danger, after falling out of the sky and flying through the air by candle.

“This isn’t funny!” Rose exclaimed, despite the smile creeping up on her face. She soon joined him in his bout of laughter. “John! How’re we going to out of here?”

Just then, a loud horn sounded with the crash of thunder, and a ship rowed into sight above them. A giant net came cascading down above them, causing them to fall and sink into the cloud. Well, John thought, it didn’t look like they were going to get out of this one. Two figures, heavily cloaked against the rain, landed next to them from ropes thrown over the side of the ship. Lightning revealed the faces of a man and a woman, both with angry scowls on their faces.

“Looks like we’ve got a couple of Lightning Marshals!” the man said.

The woman scoffed. “Don’t look like Marshals to me.”

John held his hands up defensively, subtly keeping their attention on him and covering Rose from their sight. She only huffed and moved her head to see over his shoulder, of course.  “I think you have us mistaken, no Marshals of any kind here.”

“Let us out of this net or I’ll-” Rose started before the one who spoke first interrupted her.

“We’ve got a feisty one!” John’s jaw clenched. The man, who was shorter but considerably stronger-looking than John, yelled to his partner. “Take them to the brig!”


End file.
